1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink, an ink jet recording method, and an instrument employing the ink. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ink which provides an excellent water-resistant printed image on non-coated paper, and provides a printed image having improved resistance against indoor discoloration on coated paper (paper having a pigment-coating layer), and an ink jet recording process, an ink jet device, an ink jet recording apparatus, and an ink cartridge employing the above ink.
2. Related Background Art
A variety of ink compositions are hitherto known for ink jet recording. In recent years, research and development have been comprehensively made improve the composition and the properties of the ink to conduct satisfactory recording on non-coated paper such as paper for copying, paper for reporting, notebooks, letter paper, bond paper, continuous business forms, and the like.
For example, inks involve the problems as below. Inks generally contain a high-boiling organic solvent such as glycol for prevention of drying-up and clogging. When printing is conducted on a recording medium with such an ink, the printed image run and become blurred, or scraped caused by sweat, a water drop, or the like, since the coloring matter used in the ink is a water-soluble dye. Further, full-color images which are printed on coated paper for forming the image clearly, come to be discolored disadvantageously even in a room where the direct sun light illumination is excluded, although sufficient light-fastness and weatherability are required to the color images.